Halfway home

I spent a week in Lima on my return from the USA, and at long last succeeded in getting all the paperwork together and presenting myself at the university office when they were open.  So now it is over to them - it will probably be a long wait but at least I’ve finished my task for now.

I made the most of being at sea level to do some thinking and planning about how to approach the next few weeks in Abancay.  I realised that the language and the culture and the altitude all combine to have quite a paralysing effect on my body and my brain - both of which need to work properly for me to be effective!  Both of these things do slowly get better, but it takes a while to feel more normal.  So I have tried to set some more realistic expectations this time but also got some planning done while my brain is working properly!

I also met another English girl! (We’re quite a rare species here).  She is here short term and after another couple of weeks of Spanish will be going to Curahuasi (the mission hospital an hour and a half from Abancay).  It’ll be lovely to have her close by - but meanwhile we’ve also enjoyed a weekend off in Lima, and joined some tourists on a boat trip to visit sea lions.  We also (excitingly) saw a penguin, although I wasn’t quick enough with the camera to be able to show it to you, but here are some other photos - it was a beautiful day.

Yo-oo amo a Ella!

So my friends several years ago in Ecuador wrote a song called "yo amo a ella" - "I love her".  In this case it's also true of my niece: I love Ella!

It was wonderful of my sister and brother-in-law to bring her to have a holiday in Florida, wonderful of my aunt and uncle to have a timeshare apartment there, and wonderful of all of them not to mind my gatecrashing.  So I had a glorious week getting to know my first ever niece - very very exciting.

The other highlight was probably the food, if I’m honest.  American pancakes are always a winner, and I LOVED having sausages for the first time in 6 months.  And my sister, hero that she is, used up half a suitcase bringing over tea bags and Angel Delight and dairy milk and all sorts of good things.  But it was also lovely to relax in the Florida sunshine and see dolphins and pelicans (and a couple of alligators at a safe distance).

 

 

Ocobamba visit

I was really pleased to arrange this visit, as not many happen in January.  We went just for one day, to lead a service at the village church and visit people in the afternoon. The church there is quite small and a bit discouraged, but the hope is that they can be strengthened and become a blessing in the surrounding villages.

We visited a couple who live close to the church. They were both widowed and have now married each other - they are quite elderly and life is pretty basic for them as they can’t do much.  They have a flushing toilet but it’s not plumbed in so use the field behind their house instead (perhaps something I could return and help with).  We also did some sweeping for them and I disturbed a rat - so then I learned how to set a rat trap! They were so generous to us, inviting us for dinner and supper, and giving us a place to sleep.

We met the pastor and walked with him and his nephew and granddaughter to his chakra (the closest translation I can get is “smallholding” - every family has one) to pick “tuna” (prickly pear) and oranges.  The tuna is picked with a forked stick and then rolled on the ground to get rid of the thorns.  And I have never seen so many oranges!

You take the high road and I'll take the low road...

... well actually I took them both.  I thought I'd post some photos of walks we've been on around Abancay - one to Pachachaca (Quechua for "earth bridge") in the valley below Abancay (1600m), and one to Ampay, the mountain which towers above it (we went as far as a lake at 3200m).

Pachachaca

So here are some pictures of our trip to Pachachaca - I went with 3 girls from work and some of their family.  We walked several miles along the side of the river valley, from the old colonial bridge to some thermal springs, where the kids swam.  

 

  

And on the way back we discovered some Amancayes - the flower from which Abancay gets its name.

Ampay - Angascocha

Ampay is the mountain that towers above Abancay (even though it's just under 5000m it's too small to make it onto many lists of Peruvian peaks), and part of it is a nature reserve.

 There are lots of beautiful flowers...

...and here we are, 1 1/2 hours' walk later, at the lake, with water bubbling up from underground.

All very pleased with our trip

And then 2 surprises on the way home - one, a delicious fruit called capulí (small cherries) which we picked...

...the other, my first Peruvian tarantula. Fortunately he was nice and relaxed (and sufficiently far away) in a hedge.